carrying a gun and then the implications of this start to sink in. >> all of this days african da raised their threat level from low to medium due to increased chatter but there were no specific threats, that according to law enforcement officials. joining us is correspondent pamela brown and christiane amanpour. officials and other fbi, intelligence officials here in washington are closely monitoring what is going on in neighboring canada. what are you picking up in what are you hearing? >> this is certainly a concern for intelligence officials and we've learned that the fbi is, working with canadian authorities trying to figure out if there's a nexus to terrorism. that's the concern in the wake of the isis terrorists.

what we've learned here is that the fbi is raising the alert posture at field offices across the u.s., essentially telling them to stay on heightened alert, be vigilant and on the lookout for copycat incidents and reminding them of a bulletin send out last week to be on alert. we don't know whether there's a nexus to terrorism and that's something that investigators are investigating as we speak. >> josh wingrove is a journalist inside canada's parliament building when the shots rang out. here's how he described what happened. listen to this. >> i was writing a far less dramatic story than the one i've been writing since. i looked to my left and i don't

know what it sounded like. it sounded like a giant bookshelf, a very loud bang as and posed to the popping. and the smoke-filled foyer area, the police were taking cover and their guns were drawn. the journalists were sort of with them and we were all moving down this hallway called the hall of honor to the library of parliament. police had their guns drawn and there were several, several officers at this point and there was gunfire there in front of the library of parliament ended up with a body on the ground and that's when the journalists were pushed out of the way. >> i want to go right back to ottawa right now. bill with the globen mail is

joining us. where were you when this went down? >> from the moment we heard, i was in the office and heard there was an incident in the war memorial. josh was already on the hill near the war memorial and managed to speak with eyewitnesss before police took them away. they described a short man with long black hair arriving with a rifle, shooting four shots. it's the war memorial that is just across the street from parliament hill and the witnesses say that the shooter went running towards parliament hill. and since then, the police are trying to expand the security

perimeter and there's a lot of confusion and then it's quiet and down a bit. i just saw a bunch of fire trucks speeding in the complete opposite direction. i don't know what that is about. a lot of confusion. a lot of rumors that get discounted. we're still trying to piece this all together. >> we're getting all of a sudden information from several members of the canadian parliament, bill. sad news, the canadian soldier shot at the war memorial in ottawa has died. jason kennedy, an mp for calgary, prayers for the parliamentary guard wounded. canada will not be terrorized or intimidated. are you hearing anything at all, bill, about some sort of motive, why this happened? >> well, before this happened they were trying to piece together the motive and the backstory of an incident that

happened in the province of quebec in which a long-time quebec police say became radicalized with extreme islam sat in his car for two hours waiting for the canadian forces to be won over fatally. people are trying to figure out, was he a lone wolf, so to speak, orchestrated pattern? so these are the questions that are going to intensify. >> and the incident earlier in the week, that's when authorities say the individual who shot and killed a canadian soldier, that individual had been radicalized, is that right? >> so earlier incident in the week. >> the person now allegedly

responsible. >> and the person had been r radicalized, right? >> that's what they said. >> and october 9th, they visited with him to talk about some of the things posting on the internet and that kind of thing but for having certain thoughts and the police and questions about how much officials knew about that first individual right now. >> the royal police put out a statement and the vehicle attack said when they went to arrest

him, he was about to go to turkey. they stopped him when he was about to leave canada for terrori terrorist actions and they have not been able to determine a threat. we have no idea -- i want to be precise on this, bill, if that earlier vehicle may have had any connection to what happened today. is that right? >> no reports suggesting any link at all other than the sequence of events. earlier this month they had said they were interested people thought perhaps they were watching and there was a watch list that had this information that became public a few weeks

ago. >> we're showing our viewers video from inside the canadian parliament which is now on lockdown. they have obviously tried to get everyone out. they are going through the building. i suspect they believe there may be a shooter or shooters still at large? is that right, bill? >> yes. well, that's the thing. we're trying to piece together information and they told me as much a couple of hours ago. there has been reports suggesting there may have been as many as three shooters. nothing that has been clearly stated or concerning at this stage. it's also not quite clear, too, if there was something that happened beyond the parliament buildings in the war memorial. that's what we're trying to piece together as well.

>> the parliament is very, very close to the national war memorial, right? >> yeah, that's right. it would be about a five-minute walk from the front door of center block and it's right across the street from the east block which is kind of a side building. so it's very much within walking distance. >> and what about the rideau centre? >> there's no evidence of a shooting there. i think there was a mistake and as far as i can confirm, the rideau centre mall was under lock down immediately and all of

the workers -- it's under construction and i have not been able to confirm that that was in fact the case. >> so maybe there were two shooting incidents at the parliament hill which is a five-minute walk no one has claimed responsibility, right? >> i'm not on the scene so i'm not watching online or television so i don't know what else has happened beyond what is happening here. >> we know from u.s. officials, they say at least so far -- key words, so far -- they have no indication that there were ties to violent islamic extremism but point out that it's extremely, extremely earlier. canada has been stepping up the war campaign against isis and

isis in iraq and syria. what's been the connection in canada to the coop reaeration w the u.s. and other coalition partners in this new phase in the fight against isis? >> well, it's been an interesting political debate here in canada. there's three many parties. the conservatives have the majority governing party but they put the issue to a vote. they are sending warplanes and other support help. there's a combat role and the two opposition parties, the mvp and liberals and they made the decision not to support the military intervention. they wanted to support the u.s.-led coalition into more of a humanitarian role. so it was a political issue whether to get into this or not because the liberals were in power when they decided not to

join the mission in iraq in the first place. so that's a little bit of political history there. but this is probably going to change the dine dynamic considerably. >> there's concern about a u.s. citizen going there and then coming back as isis. i want you to stand by. chri christiane amanpour is joining us. no one has claimed responsibility. we don't know who was responsible or why this is occurring but clearly there is deep concern over what's going on in canada right now. give us some thoughts, as you see what is going on,

christiane. >> exactly. as bill curry was just telling you, this vote in parliament to support the u.s. military strikes against isis was opposed to by some political parties. but 64%, according to reports of the canadian people, do actually support that limited combat role against isis. one of the things that the canadian authorities are having to deal with is the number of canadians who are going overseas to fight in various extremist groups and various different places. they say a minister of immigration recently announced in canada that some 30 canadian citizens are fighting in syria, about 130 fighting elsewhere. and they have announced plans to invalidate passports of these people who have gone away. so this idea of homegrown

citizens has crept up. we don't know if this what has taken place has anything to do with that. but the challenges that western democratic countries are facing with the troubling numbers of youths is something that all authorities keep looking at and home-grown terror is something that authorities are closely watching and monitoring. >> christiane, stay with us. joining us right now is chris in ottawa. where are you and what are you seeing and hearing? >> at the moment i'm in our newsroom in ottawa about a block away from parliament hill and about also a block away from the war memorial where the shooting first happened.

our area is in lockdown and people are being told to stay in place and to stay off the streets as the police move throughout the core trying to find out who they believe may be another gunman on the loose. >> do they suspect one gunman may be on the loose or multiple gunmen? >> one gunman has been killed by security staff on parliament hill they do believe there's another gunman at large at this moment. there's a large mall in the downtown area called the rideau centre and it's believed that that gunman is there. he may be on the run. >> so the suspicion is two gunmen, one dead, one still on the loose. and did both gunmen go to both of these locations, parliament hill as well as the war memorial, or did one do it at parliament, the shooting, and another at the war memorial?

>> well, let me run you through the detail. around 10:00 i was down -- arrived at the war memorial just seconds or minutes after the first shooting occurred and what happened, according to eyewitness testimony, there were many there taking pictures, two soldiers on guard. a gunman got out of a car, it's believed, and walked sort of briskly but methodically towards one of the soldiers and with a long gun, a shotgun, fired one shot into the chest of the soldier. just moments ago we were able to confirm that that shoulder has now died. from there, the gunman ran -- it would be about 200 yards to parliament hill and there was an armed standoff with several security personnel on parliament hill and from what we understand, the sergeant of arms in charge of the secure on

parliament hill fired and killed the gunman on parliament hill. and then from there, there is a second gunman but not confirmed where he is at this point. >> the last reported place that this happened, apparently there's pandemonium there. and at this point we're not quite sure what has transpired there and what i can tell you is that all schools and government buildings are on lockdown. there are bridges and a river that connects ontario with quebec. there's a heavy police presence and basically the city is in

lockdown at this point. >> it's obviously very sensitive, chris goldrick of the cbc. the cbc is reporting that the canadian soldier was shot and killed. we don't have that yet. have they put out an official statement? >> yes, they have. the commons, our government has released a statement, one of our cabinet ministers, jason kenny, tweeted that out. and then that information -- we didn't get with it right away but it's been confirmed by government sources and has made public that the soldier has died. the soldier, what we know about him, he was with the regiment based out of hamilton, ontario. from what i understand, soldiers from various regiments take turns staffing the war memorial and it was -- that's why he was there at that time. >> very sad story.

if you don't mind, stay with us, chris goldrick of the cbc. much more breaking news right after this.

let's go right to the white house. josh earnest is talking about the shooting in canada. >> the president was briefed earlier today in the oval office by his top homeland security monitor. the details of this event are still sketchy, which is not unusual in a chaotic situation like this one. canada is one of the closest friends and allies of the united states. and from issues ranging from the strength of our nato alliance to the ebola response to dealing with isil, there's a strong

alliance between the u.s. and canada. the u.s. strongly values that relationship. officials inside the u.s. government have been in close touch with their canadian counterparts today to offer assistance. that includes officials here in the white house. we have been in touch with the canadians about arranging a phone call between the president and prime minister harper at the prime minister's earliest convenience. he's dealing with a lot today but as soon as we can arrange that call, we'll let you know. with that -- and do you want to get started with questions? >> thanks for that, josh. can we talk about the announcement coming out of the cdc that there will be a 21-day monitoring of people coming in from west african countries? >> all right. so there you have the official from the white house. obviously very, very early in this investigation but the white house saying that the white

house will speak with prime minister harper. there is a close, collaborative relationship, intelligence, political, diplomatic relationship between the united states and canada. they are working together on what is going on. we're also getting word, by the way, that norad, is increasing their alerts after the shootings today. barbara starr is joining us. what is norad doing now? >> the northern american aerospace command is a joint u.s./canadian military command. it was raised to alert status. what does this mean? what they have done, i'm told, is move a number of aircraft closer to ottawa and this could lead to the possibility of putting up a combat air patrols over ottawa. all of this is aimed at putting things in place if they receive

a threat to ottawa air space. this is a very typical military response. they want to have an aircraft nearby. they want to put aircraft in the air at a moment's notice, given the fact that they don't exactly know what is going on. what they are not telling us is that the combat air patrol is already up in the air patrolling the skies over ottawa. it's a very typical military response in the years after 9/11 i suspect that they already are planning to put aircraft in the air. we have seen it over washington, new york, boston many, many times. this is what they do. what we know is that canadian and u.s. military officials are now in constant contact about the situation through norad, talking to canadian officials, law enforcement sharing the information that they have. top officials here at the

pentagon beingriefed about the unfolding situation. wolf? >> and as our viewers now, the u.s. embassy in ottawa is now on lockdown. also the canadian embassy is on lockdown here in washington. let's get back to democratic congressman adam schiff of california. thanks for joining us. i know you've been speaking with your staff and others. what are you hearing about what happened today and earlier in the week, for that matter, in canada? >> there's been chatter for some time. isis encouraging people to undertake self-radicalized attack, low tech or high tech, they don't care as long as western targets are gone after. we don't know yet whether this was a terrorist-inspired attack but it's certainly consistent with what isis has been urging.

isis took prudent steps to alert the offices and make sure either from a copycat attack perspective or because of this chatter it's a very prudent step. >> a lot of our viewers hear the word chatter. they are not sure what that means from the law enforcement and military perspective. what does that mean? >> in addition to the propaganda urging these kinds of things, through human intelligence we pick up people within jihadi serk kel circumstan circles saying that an attack is coming. depending on the volume of it, it can raise alarm bells here at home. >> presumably, that so-called chatter resulted in canada increasing its threat level last week? >> yeah, i'm sure that had a big part in this and obviously if it turns out that the terrorism motivation here coming so close on the heels of the attack two

days ago in canada will only further raise alarm bells in canada and here at home. >> and the suspicion is because canada is supporting the united states in the air strikes in syria and iraq? >> exactly. this is something that we've been concerned about for some time, and that's the potential for home-grown attacks, using low-tech means and to utilize them to damaging consequence as we see. so very hard to protect against this. intelligence is our best defense against something like this. intel is not perfect. >> and we don't know what the cause or motivation was for these attacks today and earlier in the week in canada. there's a lot of fear and suspicion. it could be what matt olson told our own jim sciutto, our chief national security adviser. yesterday they were deeply concerned about these lone wolf, self-mobilized energized

terrorist who is may decide, inspired by the internet to undertake these operations. >> if you had to diagram out what are the most approximate threats to the country, the lone wolf attacks right in the bull's-eye, you would see an attack on the homeland and probably the most distant threat is sort of a massive 9/11-style attack. while these are not as damaging as that massive 9/11 attack, nonetheless deeply distressing and could result in a loss of life. >> on monday we saw this vehicle attack killing canadian soldier and then now two days later we see these other attacks going on in the parliament as well as in the national war memorial. so the two suspicions i have, that i want you to weigh in, if you could, either they are connected or if they are not connected, they could be potentially copycat or they could be separate incidents. we don't know yet.

but those are the suspicions and the theories. >> absolutely. and i think we'll find out in short order. it could be that they were unrelated. or they may have decided to pull the trigger on today's attack because of concerns about increased security after the attack a couple of days ago. >> you haven't heard anything about the u.s. raising its threat level? >> i haven't. there's been a real effort to make sure when we raise the threat level that we're giving people specific information about what they need to guard against rather than just sort of heightening people's anxiety but i think the steps that the fbi is taking and norad is taking, these are good things. >> thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> i want to bring in cnn's paula newton. she knows the area very well. you know this parliament hill where the national war memorial is and you heard one of the canadian reporters tell us a few minutes ago, paula, that there

was concern that one of the shooters may still be at large at this shopping mall in downtown ottawa. set the scene for us. >> the shopping mall is, of kourks still in lockdown. that entire core is in lockdown. they were saying that there's several gunmen and that means that they cannot be sure of what exactly is going on. i have to tell you, wolf, from the security situation on capitol hill, and there will be lots of questions as to how this happened, the initial gunman, when they had the shooting in front of the war memorial, they charged at those front doors. there is no security at those front doors in terms of there being a barrier. there's a lot of personnel there. some of them are armed. that's how he was able to get into the building.

and that is why there are two levels of security. and while this was going on in parliament hill, simultaneously it seems, a five-minute walk down the hill towards the mall and the entire mall was under lock down and i can tell you within a very large radius, the lockdown continues. my children's school is in a security lockdown. these are intense moments. and they do not know if there is still a gunman on the loose. >> these images that we've been seeing underscore that. paula, stay with us. we'll take a quick break. much more of the developing story out of canada when we come back. intelligently designed. with available forward collision warning

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i'm wolf blitzer in washington. the breaking news, a terrible incident in canada today, in ottawa. one canadian soldier guarding particle meant, the national war memorial shot and killed. there are at least one of the suspects, one of the shooters shot, arrested and shot and killed himself but there is a suspicion that another shooter

may still be at large in the ottawa area. here's what happened in the canadian particle meant just a little while ago. [ gunfire ] all right. so there you have it. dramatic moments a while ago. canadian government says one of the shooters shot and killed by canadian law enforcement, another shooter may, though, be at large right now. u.s. officials say there is at least so far no indication of violent islamic extremism, any connection, but they say this is very, very early in the investigation. paula newton, who knows the story well, is joining us once again. you're getting new information.

paula, what are you learning? >> well, i just got off the phone with the police chief of ottawa. he is still saying there is no all clear. there could be a gunman on the loose. they are going office-to-office in the parliament buildings. if no one is answering the door, they are going into those offices, knocking doors down, doing what they have to do to make sure they search every corner and crevice of the parliament buildings. they are supposed to have a briefing within the half hour and will give us many more details. clear right now, bottom line, this downtown area still remains under threat as far as the police are concerned. >> paula, the canadian government is saying one soldier was shot and killed. we're getting these tweets from various members of parliament. jason kenny tweets, condolences

to the family of the soldier killed and another mp john williamson tweets, "government caucus received confirmation shortly ago one canadian soldier was killed." a moment of silence followed. very sad news. ottawa is not a huge city. they must be very, very nervous if there's a shooter at large. these kinds of incidents don't happen often in canada, do they, paula? >> wolf, this is an incredible game changer in canada. the amount of security that there should be here in parliament hill and the downtown area has been debated. people were inclined to keep it as open as they could for the pubic will. my children have played soccer in the front on the grass. it's that kind of open place. the problem is right now, wolf, and as we've been saying and as i've been following for years, this chatter about a lone wolf

type of attack or something organized mumbai-style in ottawa has happened twice before in aspirational terms. the investigators in canada have actually looked into and charged people with these kinds of plots either against the prime minister or against those parliament buildings in canada. everyone knew that there was a risk that this could happen. again, it was a very difficult balancing act. a bad day. wolf, i'm getting ec-mails that my children's activity has been canceled and traffic is a nightmare. this is just something that doesn't happen in this kind of a city. and also in terms of the very character of the way the politicians and even our own prime minister was spirited away in underground tunnels, his residence is about a five-minute drive from the parliament buildings. the opposition leaders are all away from parliament right now. they were pretty much put into a safe place almost immediately.

the problem is, this is not the way anyone wanted it to be in ottawa. they wanted to try to keep it safe and secure without having to go to a lot of overt security in that area. after that, that may change. >> yeah. and you say there's going to be a briefing coming up shortly from -- >> at the -- absolutely. i believe either from ottawa, a joint press conference with ottawa police and the rcmp at the top of the hour. we should have more information in about 20 to 25 minutes. >> we'll have live coverage of that. paula, stand by. the royal canadian police has been meeting with stephen prime minister. there's a picture that has just been released. obviously a huge concern for canada and a huge concern for officials here in the united states as well. very close cooperation in terms of intelligence cooperation, law enforcement and military cooperation between the u.s. and canada. our law enforcement analyst,

former fbi assistant director tom fuentes is joining us by phone right now. i don't know if the u.s. has a closer ally than canada. i assume that the u.s. is working really close with canada to try to figure out what happened, tom. >> that's right. the u.s. has a very close relationship with the canadians, the fbi in particular has three offices in canada. the main office in the u.s. embassy in on the embassy in ottawa has worked closely on many cases. and a self-radicalized individual was going to, you know, have bombs set off in downtown toronto and would have killed hundreds of people and the rcmp, the canadian intelligence service, the toronto police as well as the fbi worked closely in that case with the u.s. connections, also,

with some of the individuals. so in their parliament building, it is a first and we'll have to wait and see. is it a copycat because the person who ran through the white house front door a couple of weeks ago, is it a copycat because somebody killed a canadian soldier driving his car over a soldier two days ago? that will all remain to be seen. the key to this is the identification of the one shooter and find out who is he and starting looking at his phone calls, college, classmates. that will give an idea of if he's just a deranged individual or a wannabe jihadist and what his motivation might have been. >> stand by, tom. kevin lamoureux is joining us. he's a member of the parliament. tell us what you heard, tell us about the lockdown, where are

you now? >> what i can tell you is that every wednesday, members of parliament meet on parliament hill in the precinct or the block known as center block. i was just going into our caucus room when security had asked us to leave and at the time, just thought that it was a fire alarm request. so i slowly got out of the caucus and before five seconds after leaving the caucus room, i heard rapid fire of what appeared to be 20 shots or more, very loud, appeared to be very close and that motivated a lot of people to move quicker at following the security who did a phenomenal job at gets us out of the building, which wasn't too far for me because i was right at the back and, as it turns

out, it happened just above us. and that's why it sounded so loud. and then a few minutes later we had the prime minister's motorcade to leave the back and then we had heavily armed law enforcement officers come to the back and escort us off the hill because they believed there might have been another shooter in the back and since then it's been in lockdown. we're to stay away from the windows until we're given further information. >> is the suspicion there is at least one other shooter at large someplace in ottawa right now? >> i just don't know. i know as much as you do in terms of just listening to media reports at this stage. all i know for a fact was there was a lot of gunfire inside the house of commons, which is the

canada's, you know, place for freedom and democracy and so forth. that's where all of our debates take place. >> is there also a concern that this could be connected to monday's vehicle killing of a soldier by someone described as law enforcement authorities as someone who was radicalized? is there a connection here? is that what is going on or is it just a copycat or two isolated incidents? >> wolf, at this point in time, no one, from what i understand, has any sense of what the motivation was. so it would be purely speculation, at least i have no sense of it at all. all i heard is prayers go out to some of the individuals that have been hurt by this, in particular, an individual at the war memorial that was shot. you know, just hope things turn out well for him.

and if anyone else has been hurt throughout this process sdp. >> the soldier who was shot, the canadian government has now confirmed he's dead. >> i hope he survives. you know, i don't know any details whatsoever. >> i think one soldier was hurt but i think one soldier the canadian government has now confirmed was shot and killed by this individual. >> yeah. >> and we know one of the shooters was shot and killed as well but there is suspicion a second shooter remains at large. i know this is very early information and it's sketchy. i want to thank you, kevin lamoureaux, we'll stay in close touch with you. >> thank you, wolf. >> we'll have more information coming in to cnn. we'll have it for you when we come back. new york state is jump-starting business with startup-ny. an unprecedented program that partners businesses

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welcome back. we're watching what's going on in canada right now right at the top of the hour, by the way, police in ottawa will have a news conference with details on what happened. they are setting up the cameras, setting up the microphones at that desk in ottawa. that will be a police briefing. we'll have live coverage here on cnn. we're watching this news because it's very, very disturbing. a shooting incident on canada's

parliament hill, the canadian parliament building, the national war memorial. two shooting incidents there. one canadian soldier was shot and killed. there is fear now that one shooter may still be at large. one shooter was shot by law enforcement. it's a very, very worrisome development because it follows what happened on monday when another canadian soldier was killed as a result of a vehicle just gunning him down, if you will, the vehicle going over and killing that canadian soldier. we have no idea that there was any connection, no idea if these were isolated incidents, copycat incidents. but at the top of the hour, presumably we'll be hearing more from the canadian law enforcement authorities. this is what happened in the canadian parliament just a little while ago. jim sciutto, our chief national security correspondent is with me here in washington. you're picking up information from your sources. what are you >> they say it's too early to say whether this shooting is tied to islamic extremism but

something they are checking out. i can tell you there is great concern in the u.s. intelligence community about this kind of attack. i spoke with the former director of the national terrorism center yesterday and he said the most likely attack to happen on u.s. soil is a lone wolf attack where you have someone inspired by if not directed by terrorist groups in the middle east to carry out attacks like this. opportunistic attacks, which frankly are easy to carry out. they don't have to be very ambitious things. that's why it's a great concern for u.s. law enforcement in addition to that the fact that it's hard to track folks like this who might be inspired to do this sort of thing. i say that that they do not know and have not concluded this attack falls into that category. this level of concern doing things like this that are easy to carry out are a focus of the

intelligence community right now. >> and in your interview yesterday, that was what kept him up at night. >> he said there are very severe threats from the group in syria, from isis, from weak in the arabian peninsula but he said the most likely attack that they expect to see in the u.s. is lone wolf attacks. that's a real concern. er in point i would make is this. you look at a plot in australia that was disrupted a couple weeks ago with attempts to behead people in public. there were arrests in the u.k. just recently. this is canada. you had the attack two days ago and now this one which we don't know is connected to islamic extremism but those are countries involved in the coalition against isis taking military action now in syria or iraq and that's a real concern. you will have that kind of

backlash attacks, revenge attacks because of that involvement. >> suspicion is because canada is working with the u.s. on this war against isis. that elevated that concern. i want to bring in a cnn national security analyst. you used to work at the department of homeland security. take us inside the u.s. government right now. give us a flavor of what is likely happening. >> the most important thing is m coulding out of the white house at this stage because so many different departments will have a piece of this. you look at the department of defense elevating the fly byes with norad is important to protect our airspace. there will be increased border controls. we have to assume that's happening between canada and the united states and then you'll have the state department. our embassy is under lockdown. all of those different agencies that are involved are going to be feeding information into the white house and then of course as everyone has been saying, we

don't know what this is. if you're canadian police and if you're the national security staff, you don't treat this as a coincidence. friday canada raised the alert level and monday there's this weird car attack and then wednesday this very violent attack on the government center. you have to assume although we don't have the details yet, at least from an investigation side that somehow that these are linked. whether they are just -- people are just using this as an opportunity and where the investigation leads may lead to fortunately one of the men, one of the assailants is dead so we can identify him. this is unfolding in realtime. we'll see all those pieces will be fitting into to get a better picture over time. >> we're standing by at the top of the hour. a news conference in ottawa. we'll have live coverage.

susan candiotti is joining us on the phone. what are you picking up? >> reporter: hi, wolf. i learned that canadian authorities shared the name of the suspect. the suspected gunman. and has asked help from federal law enforcement authorities in the united states asking for fbi assistance in trying to trace this person's activities according to this official. the official said that at this point it's not clear whether they are trying to verify whether this name is genuine or an alias and at this point not officially releasing the person's nationality, ethnicity or age or any other details at this time. they do have names. they're checking out this person to make sure that it is in fact the name of the person they think it is and to look into that person's activities leading up to this event. >> is there some suspicion that

they asked the fbi for help because this individual could be american? is that the implication here, susan? >> reporter: i think more has to do with the fact that of course they would accept help worldwide. it's what's happening here. the fbi has a presence in canada so it's an easy thing to do an expected thing that would have happened so they can draw upon the u.s. government to go back and trace this person and find out everything they can about them and what might have led up to this. >> clearly they have a name. they don't know if it's the real name. they are checking that out. they certainly have not yet publicly released the name of this individual but will presumably be hearing more at the top of the hour in about four or five minutes. we expect a news conference in ottawa. we'll hear from the law enforcement authorities in canada and what they know about this deadly shooting incident at the canadian parliament today and the national war memorial.

much more of the breaking news. i'll be back right at the top of i'll be back right at the top of the hour.

hope you'll let us kno. always look for the grown in idaho seal. hello. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. we're expecting a news conference any moment now to update us on the breaking news in downtown ottawa. we can now confirm one gunman

has been killed. one or more may still be on the loose. we also just learned that a canadian soldier has been killed. right now parliament hill in ottawa on lockdown as are other major areas including a major nearby shopping mall. ottawa university people are told to lock doors and turn out lights and draw blinds. an emergency situation on the steps of the war memorial in ottawa as well after a canadian soldier was shot by what a witness describes as a high powered rifle. we now know that soldier unfortunately has died. listen to what this witness saw. >> we have an honor guard of troops that stand guard at the memorial. i heard four shots. i turn around and ran and i saw one of those soldiers laying on the ground. >> how do you know this person was a soldier? >> there is a ceremonial uniform

they wear. i just saw the white gloves on his hands. i knew who he was. >> incredible pictures coming into cnn shot from inside the halls of the canadian parliament building where another witness described seeing at least one body. cnn has not been able to confirm that. we do know dozens of gunshots rang out in the halls. watch this. >>er